Spoilers I finally exposed myself to The Animated Series

[T'Bonz]

I rewatched it for the first time since the original run (yes, I'm that old) when it came out on DVD and I was surprised at some of the quality. Many eps FELT like real Star Trek. It was like getting a bonus season.

My only beefs were the cheesy music, whiny child Spock's voice in the Spock ep (the name escapes me at the minute), and the occasionally clunky kiddie-type shows, like when Spock is a giant.

But I'm glad we got a little bonus Trek.

 

[Christopher]

and the occasionally clunky kiddie-type shows, like when Spock is a giant.

Like I said, that's no worse and no more "kiddie" than Apollo being a giant, or Flint making the Enterprise randomly tiny. They didn't do it to be "kiddie," they did it to take advantage of the freedom of animation to show things they couldn't show in live action. (Also, it didn't come across well in the episode, but the previous generations of Phylosians were giant compared to Agmar, and their fleet of ships meant to impose peace on the galaxy were built to be operated by giant-sized crew, which presumably is the reason Keniclius scaled up his clones to fit the ships. There was a logic to it.)

 

[Qonundrum]

It would be nice if, for once, we could have a thread about TAS that just discusses it as a show, rather than degenerating into yet another impromptu prosecution of Filmation.

And it is indeed an engaging, wonderful show that survives on its merits - writing and acting. I just finished season 1 discs 1 and all but one ep of 3 and the show explores new worlds that obviously couldn't be done as live action back then and probably couldn't now, even with today's outlandish budgets (adjusted for inflation, TNG was only $2 mil. $8 to $10 mil nowadays is just mind-boggling.)

There are some callbacks to planets and events, some work better than others. One episode referred to "Camus 3" and another featured another Camus planet in terms of being far away or something. Something about those didn't really click...

"Ambergris Experiment" feels rushed - again, typical casualty of TAS's rabid format. Nope, not merely rapid but rabid. I don't recall anything major that was a downer, but it was nice to see the animated format exploring more than what TOS could do. That sentiment is prevalent in rather a lot of TAS episodes I'd seen.

"Slaver Weapon" - a bit too simplistic, yet it's a great episode that lets people other than Mccoy/Kirk/Spock be the away team. The magical watermelon-hued super-dee-duper weapon they just couldn't do as live action. Still a great episode.

"Eye of Beholder" - nice twist on the "humans as zoo crittrers" trope. As usual, I'm craving these episodes had proper runtimes so they could take really add the level of suspense and adventure deserved.

"The Jihad" - comparatively the most lackluster episode I'd seen so far, but still felt like an adventure worthy of Trek. I also liked how the human woman was being bold and coming onto Kirk. I was depressed that he retorts about having plenty of experience the way he does because the setup of their situation would have made a great B-plot.

"The Survivor" had one duff scene, which I give slack to only because Kirk learned since "Obsession" with Garivick delaying his shot. (Thankfully the reason for the crewmember delaying leads to a more satisfactory conclusion.) Otherwise it's a great episode.

"Pirates of Orion" - refreshing given TOS's penchant for making friends everywhere but somehow the audience also knows Kirk wouldn't be so nice. It feels a bit by the numbers, again due to the rapid plotting. Yet it holds together and rarely with major plot problems - in that regard TAS impresses even more. If I sit though these episodes again, I'm sure plot issues will be more apparent. But every episode, even as delayed reaction or juggling exposition to maximize the effectiveness of the limited runtime, it's been amazing.

"One of our planets is missing" - Bob Wesley returns for fun. The plot is inspired by "The Immunity Syndrome" but its introductions (e.g. the cloud) are inspiration for 1979 TMP. It's hilarious they discuss big body organs, even a small intestine, but when it comes to escaping they decide to fly up to the goofy brain with the brain hole to get out. At the last second they break through and communicate and the big hungry critter is probably now flying somewhere else for a snack. I gather there are lots of McDonalds on planet Earth...

"Yesteryear" - I only recall that it was interesting that the future was only slightly changed at the very end. The Andorian twist of ready support may not have been present if this was a full-length episode. Sarek called the authorities but I don't recall them intercepting Old-Spock... 50 minutes of plot stuck in 24 minutes but still felt largely satisfying.

"More Troubles More Tribbles" - the new energy weapon was interesting but the glommer seemed a little too "kiddie" and was probably the most "kiddie" thing of any episode I'd seen so far. Check that, "Jihad" wasn't the most boring. "Tribbles" is. Having said that, it's also somehow better than the TOS episode introducing them despite doing by-the-numbers wiht going back to the well on Gilligan's Sherman's planet and all.

Many more episodes to get through and revisiting a couple to get at continuity references and plot nuances that one-upped TOS or were merely copping them. Still quite the underrated show. TAS is truly sci-fi of the sort we need today - action and adventure. Not some generic lame soap opera with token trademarks spit onto it. (We are often told we need people today to be open-minded to try something new. I would actually dare people to try watching a decades-old show that isn't as pretty and posh-looking as today's stuff.)

 

[Christopher]

There are some callbacks to planets and events, some work better than others. One episode referred to "Camus 3" and another featured another Camus planet in terms of being far away or something. Something about those didn't really click...

I think you must have misheard the mention of Canopus III in "The Eye of the Beholder" and Beta Canopus (as a planet 4 days away from the Enterprise) in "The Pirates of Orion." Canopus is a real star (Alpha Carinae), though the "Beta Canopus" name is imaginary.

"Ambergris Experiment" feels rushed - again, typical casualty of TAS's rabid format. Nope, not merely rapid but rabid. I don't recall anything major that was a downer, but it was nice to see the animated format exploring more than what TOS could do. That sentiment is prevalent in rather a lot of TAS episodes I'd seen.

What bugs me about it lately is that they were still wearing their standard uniforms even when they were changed into waterbreathers, aside from having their flippered feet bare. I realized a while back that aside from equipment like force field belts, backpacks, and the like, none of the TAS regulars ever change their costumes, with the sole exception of Spock in "Yesteryear" (and even he still has his uniform on under his desert gear). No doubt this was so that they could use stock cels of the characters without having to redraw their clothes.

"Slaver Weapon" - a bit too simplistic, yet it's a great episode that lets people other than Mccoy/Kirk/Spock be the away team. The magical watermelon-hued super-dee-duper weapon they just couldn't do as live action.

It would've been a lot easier to do the weapon in live action than the Kzinti, or the ice planetoid.

 

[Qonundrum]

Thanks much for the clarification! I am partially deaf, that would explain the mishearing.

The standard uniforms didn't faze me but my mind was not focused on that at the time. I think your reason is correct - overlay something over it to save on cost.

 

[Maurice]

...typical casualty of TAS's rabid format. Nope, not merely rapid but rabid.

“You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”

A series format can be neither fanatical or afflicted with rabies, nor—going back to the Latin source—was the TAS format furious, madly violent, or raving.

The magical watermelon-hued super-dee-duper weapon they just couldn't do as live action. Still a great episode.

It's not like Filmation actually drew it morphing or anything. They just put a glow over it and poof it's a different shape. That'd have been simple enough to do in live action. It's really only the rocket mode of the weapon that would have been problematic.

 

[Phoenix219]

My favorite was when they'd just plain not draw something that was too difficult to animate, like during Race's fight with the Sumo wrestler in "The Dragons of Ashida." They just cut back to Jonny and Hadji describing the cool martial arts move that Race just did off-screen.

And thank you for not spelling it "Johnny Quest." That drives me nuts.

Gahh, I have argued with so many clueless morons on the internet, that insist that it has "changed" and that it is a "Mandela Effect" and that we are switching Universes, and that Kirk used to say "Beam Me Up Scotty" All The Time and They Remember!

 

[Skipper]

the animation is bottom of the barrel awful. it was bad even by standards of the time.

...err, what were the "standards of the time"? Other 1973's (american) animated shows were the likes of Yogi's Gang, Speed Buggy or Goober and the Ghost Chasers and I'm quite sure no one of them is remembered for its technical achievements...

 

[XCV330]

...err, what were the "standards of the time"? Other 1973's (american) animated shows were the likes of Yogi's Gang, Speed Buggy or Goober and the Ghost Chasers and I'm quite sure no one of them is remembered for its technical achievements...

However they were at least produced by someone who wasn't colorblind.

 

[Mytran]

This interview with Bob Kline reveals that it wasn't Hal Sutherland and his colourblindness that was responsible for the odd colours in TAS, it was just the chief inker who had a poor attitude to his job!
http://www.trek.fm/saturday-morning-trek/26

 

[Kor]

I think you must have misheard the mention of Canopus III in "The Eye of the Beholder" and Beta Canopus (as a planet 4 days away from the Enterprise) in "The Pirates of Orion." Canopus is a real star (Alpha Carinae), though the "Beta Canopus" name is imaginary.
...

I used to think they were saying "Cannabis III."

Kor

 

[Christopher]

However they were at least produced by someone who wasn't colorblind.

We only had a black-and-white TV in my home, so it hardly mattered to me. I still remember when I was on a trip and got to watch Jason of Star Command in color for the first time on a hotel TV, and I was surprised that Commander Stone was blue!

I think I got to see TOS: "The Immunity Syndrome" in color for the first time on that same trip. It was amazing.

 

[CRM-114]

TAS is the earliest Star Trek I can distinctly remember watching, though I have a faint recollection of seeing part of TMP when I was very young (Spock in the thruster suit). We would borrow the old VHS tapes from the L.A. County Library branch in San Fernando. The episodes I most remember watching are "The Infinite Vulcan", "More Tribbles, More Troubles", "Beyond the Farthest Star", and "The Jihad".

 

[ZapBrannigan]

What bugs me about it lately is that they were still wearing their standard uniforms even when they were changed into waterbreathers, aside from having their flippered feet bare.

I think it's even worse than that. The stills I'm seeing online confirm my memory that they still wore their standard-issue Star Trek boots while underwater. I found that a bit cheap even at age 11 in 1973.

And there's this:
http://www.mezzacotta.net/planetofhats/episodes/0096.html

 

[Maurice]

I think it's even worse than that. The stills I'm seeing online confirm my memory that they still wore their standard-issue Star Trek boots while underwater. I found that a bit cheap even at age 11 in 1973.

The characters in Bonanza also tended to wear the same outfits all the time so they could use stock footage of them riding, etc. and have it match.

 

[FormerLurker]

A LOT of shows did that. Just about all of the westerns are guilty of it. Most 'present day' shows couldn't because the audience wouldn't be able to relate to characters that don't change clothes the way they do. That slowly changed in the '70s and '80s as budgets grew, just because they needed to.

A good example would be Buck Rogers in the 25th Century; you'd expect the mains to always be wearing their uniforms, but not only was Buck sartorially resplendent, but Wilma, who in the first season was often seen in a jumpsuit, had a dozen jumpsuits to choose from. It wasn't until the second season that they wore the same outfit on a regular basis, and Buck was still able to choose from a large closet.

 

[Christopher]

It wasn't until the second season that they wore the same outfit on a regular basis, and Buck was still able to choose from a large closet.

Mercifully, they didn't, not entirely. Wilma started off the season in a ridiculous white-and-blue "space navy" outfit that looked like Sailor Moon cosplay, but fortunately they sometimes found reasons to put her in other outfits, like the season 1 dress uniform she wore throughout "Journey to Oasis."

Buck Rogers season 1 had terrific costume design, though. Shallow writing, but great costumes.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

A LOT of shows did that. Just about all of the westerns are guilty of it. Most 'present day' shows couldn't because the audience wouldn't be able to relate to characters that don't change clothes the way they do. That slowly changed in the '70s and '80s as budgets grew, just because they needed to.

A good example would be Buck Rogers in the 25th Century; you'd expect the mains to always be wearing their uniforms, but not only was Buck sartorially resplendent, but Wilma, who in the first season was often seen in a jumpsuit, had a dozen jumpsuits to choose from. It wasn't until the second season that they wore the same outfit on a regular basis, and Buck was still able to choose from a large closet.

There's a current example that's somewhat unusual: Penn & Teller: Fool Us. The titular stars and hostess Alyson Hannigan (Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) all wear the same thing every week. The bts reason is that the show is constructed of segments that get taped at different times, and then the segments (magic acts by contestants) are fitted into 1-hour shows that are balanced and entertaining. That way they don't have all the best acts one week and all dogs the next. Penn and Teller look fine in the same gray suits every week, but seeing a woman in the same dress and shoes week after week is odd at best. Fool Us is still a great show, though.

 

[FormerLurker]

Mercifully, they didn't, not entirely. Wilma started off the season in a ridiculous white-and-blue "space navy" outfit that looked like Sailor Moon cosplay, but fortunately they sometimes found reasons to put her in other outfits, like the season 1 dress uniform she wore throughout "Journey to Oasis."

The shipboard uniforms for Wilma and the other women on board were a sad attempt (by who I don't know, either the studio or the network, I think) to "Star Trek" up, or even sex up, the show. Every woman wore a short, even mini, skirt on the ship. Thankfully, some cooler head persuaded them to have Wilma and any other women that went planetside put on a pair of pants.

 

[Christopher]

The shipboard uniforms for Wilma and the other women on board were a sad attempt (by who I don't know, either the studio or the network, I think) to "Star Trek" up, or even sex up, the show. Every woman wore a short, even mini, skirt on the ship. Thankfully, some cooler head persuaded them to have Wilma and any other women that went planetside put on a pair of pants.

Yeah... For all its superficiality, the first season of Buck Rogers did a great job for its era of portraying women as equals and strong characters (with a few exceptions like Dorothy Stratten in "Cruise Ship to the Stars"), but the second season was often disturbingly misogynistic, marginalizing and objectifying Wilma and never giving another female Seeker crew member more than a single line, except for the nurse in "Mark of the Saurian."

The sad thing about season 2 is that its first and last episodes are both terrific, smart science fiction stories better than anything else in the entire series, and there's some halfway decent stuff in the second and second-last episodes, but the rest of the season is even dumber than the first. The first season was unambitious fluff, but it didn't take itself seriously, so it was reasonably fun. But the second season took itself very seriously, which made the dumbness stand out even more.

Here's the thing, though (quoting from my blog): I realized a while back that Buck Rogers season 2 was the closest thing in real life to the series within the movie Galaxy Quest. Within the film’s reality, the Galaxy Quest series ran from 1979-82, while Buck Rogers ran from 1979-81. Both GQ and BR S2 were Star Trek-like starship adventure series with a macho male lead whose actor tended to hog the spotlight (Taggart/Buck), his stoic alien warrior best friend who’s the last survivor of a slaughtered people (Dr. Lazarus/Hawk), and a somewhat marginalized token female lead/love interest with a vaguely defined shipboard role (Tawny/Wilma). Meanwhile, Laredo, the child prodigy navigator of the Protector, has always strongly reminded me of Gary Coleman’s Hieronymous Fox from Buck season 1. Everyone assumes that Galaxy Quest is just a Star Trek parody, and to a large extent it obviously is; but if it isn’t deliberately based on Buck Rogers as well, then it’s a staggering coincidence, given the sheer number of strong parallels.